FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

On the whole, this planet was very much like Earth, really.

Anar put it down to the whole 'breathable atmosphere' and 'carbon-based lifeforms' thing. There were plants, and animals, and birds. They could be the same species they had back home for all he knew, growing up in the middle of England hadn't given him much opportunity to encounter rare and exciting specimens. If you got a woodpecker on the bird feeder it was a good day. The day was split up into twenty-four hours, the two suns followed each other across the sky leading to a satisfying night and day pattern and he had been assured there were seasons. Working in a desert, he wasn't sure if autumn and winter would actually come to much, but he would see. The big difference here, if it could be regarded as big, was in the months of the year. The Dragon had boasted that he was going to get all the nations working on an Earth calendar but instead of February being a silly, short month it actually had a full thirty days in it and no confusing leap year nonsense was needed. It certainly showed that his boss had chosen this world very carefully, and genuinely wanted his aardvark General to feel at home here.

Small fluffy creatures, (which could have been rabbits), scattered in the path of the mighty World War II terror machine as it reared up out of the mire, sending murky thick water splashing over the pretty flowers that were thriving beside it. Through his small viewing-window Anar could see that they were almost upon their next port of call. The Immanok orcs. This community didn't like outsiders much, which was promising, and Gritz and Kallo were both of the opinion that these were a very backward people indeed, which was just the icing on the cake. Taking the tank had seemed a no-brainer after giving the map a glance and seeing nothing but bog, and bringing these two Privates along just might make their reception a little warmer if they were indeed a grumpy bunch!

Gritz had been having a brilliant time playing with the mounted machine gun and they'd left a pepper-spray of bullets on their short journey. Many innocent squeaky creatures had breathed their last and Kallo was positively itching to get the main turret hot so he could have his fun too. As the wooden struts of a community perimeter came into sight, Anar reminded him once again that he was not, under any circumstances imaginable or otherwise, to go blowing anything up without his say so.

There were no guards at the entrance. Not a soul to welcome them, and Anar damn well knew they'd made enough noise to wake the dead, so it wasn't that they'd arrived unannounced and unexpected. He hit the brake, and the old machine squeaked to a stop. He flipped the hatch, which also made a clang. Tanks just were not designed for stealth.

"Sir?'

He pricked his long ears, picking up tweeting and warbling and quite possibly croaking but there were no voices. The village was on higher, drier ground, up out of the muck but the light was still not quite getting in from the leafy canopy surrounding it. Then he realised that there was no fire. In the last two visits, even in the mountain caves, there had been a large fire providing light and comfort, even if not necessarily warmth in these summer months. Here there was nothing.

"What are our orders, sir?"

"Shhh! He's thinkin'!"

"I'm only askin'"

"You don't ask officers nuffin'!"

Anar dipped back down before his two Privates started arguing, "there's no fire in the camp. No voices neither. We're going to go take a closer look, with our handguns at the ready, ok?"

The two orc boys nodded, saluting, unsmiling, clearly getting the gist of the situation.

Anar rolled the tank up the muddy, grassy bank and promptly parked it in the entranceway. That was one access point blocked, at least. He led the way out and down the now filthy vehicle and instinctively crouched. If there was one thing he remembered from old action films, it was that you used cover when you moved. With a wave of a grey hand, he beckoned his men to follow him as he made his way around the compound, going from pillar to post with his pistol in his grip.

They really weren't ready for any combat! They'd had a bit of shooting practise with some of the firearms they'd retrieved from the dead Earth, and they'd got to lob a grenade or two and that was all their actual soldier training had been thus far. They'd spent as much time on practising salutes so they didn't slap themselves in the face, and going 'hut hut hut' when they jogged around headquarters, as they had on actually being grunts. Anar had been quick to press a finger to his lips or they'd have been giving it the old 'hut hut hut' here and that would have given them away in a second.

Were the Immanok orcs out hunting? Having an afternoon nap? Gone on holiday somewhere nice, perhaps? Anywhere was better than the middle of a marsh.

Something that did a great impression of being a chicken squawked into view and Kallo let it have it with a shot that would have been impressive if it hadn't made his General damn near shit himself. Who knew guns were so loud? Having big ears was not helpful.

"Jesus ruddy Christ on a bicycle!" Anar coughed as his heart hammered in his chest, "can we not shoot at flipping farm animals?"

"Sorry, sir!" Kallo apologised, while Gritz gave him a look that screamed 'I'm so glad that wasn't me!'.

The could-be-a-chicken was a smear of red and feathers on the dirt floor.

"I can bring it back for the kitchen, sir?"

"You've done quite enough!"

"Yessir."

"They were expecting us, weren't they sir?" Gritz asked, safe in the knowledge he couldn't possibly be as stupid as Kallo.

"Yes," Anar growled, "they were. Look at how the awnings are hanging down, torn," he pointed, and they looked, dutifully, "and log piles have been disturbed, there's even marks in the dirt where things have been dragged. People, maybe. I don't like this. I suppose the Immanoks had enemies like everyone else?" he asked.

Kallo wisely kept quiet and simply nodded.

Gritz did a sort of shrug, "it's usually the elves."

"Elves?"

Gritz frowned, "yeah, they don't like us, see. We like fighting each other, right, having a bit of a battle here and skirmish there, but... when it's down to it, it's just a bit o' fun. Elves, though, yeah, elves will just do us in and tell us it's for our own good."

Anar was very confused, but this was no place for a history lesson. "There are no bodies, though..."

"Maybe in the swamp? Maybe we drove right over them?"

That was an unsavoury thought.

"No, this place is massive. Look at it. All the huts, the wooden buildings. Heavily populated. You'd burn them or leave them to rot. Probably," he added quickly in case he suddenly sounded like an expert at being a bastard.

"They could have been taken prisoner," Kallo finally offered.

Anar turned to him, and he flinched in case he was in trouble again, but his General motioned for him to continue.

"Sometimes, sometimes they grab orcs for the mines. They have these fancy weapons 'n stuff. The elves. All gold and gems." He gave Gritz a look, "they don't dig 'em out themselves!"

Gritz nodded, "right!"

With a breath, Anar stood upright, satisfied than no-one was going to throw an axe at him, or shoot an arrow. They'd walked into a situation here alright, that was for sure. There were other camps and villages to visit, and they needed more men. They could abandon this venture no problem. But. There was always a 'but'. This could be a bit of an exciting diversion, couldn't it?

If he'd still had his magic spark, he'd be feeling that bubbling in his blood, he just knew it. That fizz in his fists that urged him to look for trouble, or lash out and start a scrap. If he rolled on back to base, looked Rave in his green reptilian eye and said he'd turned down a possible adventure, well... he would deserve all the insults he'd get, before being dragged back with the angry raptor in tow, desperate to shoot at something.

"Why don't we see if we can go find them, boys?"

"Yessir!" they rumbled.

Anar hoped the missing orcs hadn't just wandered over the way for some sunbathing because that could be embarrassing; they'd better be in trouble and need rescuing, just to make him look good! The hatch banged shut behind them and the tank rolled on through the village, out the other side and through the back end of the swamp, in search of those elusive Immanok orcs.